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Chapter 13

John felt his jaw clinch. As the man walked down the strip, John could see his face more clearly. Yes, that was Mr. Alex Green. He had only met him the one time and had his assistant call him to drop him as a client.

His hands clinched into fists and he took a step forward, before Anna's hand landed on his upper arm.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to go and say hello," John seethed, his mind clearly on revenge.

"No, you're not," Anna strongly stated. "You are not drawing any attention to me. You're not getting yourself in trouble. We're walking away"

Not able to argue with Anna and knowing she was right, John allowed Anna to tug him down a different street and toward the ice cream place. They walked inside. As John placed his hand on Anna's shoulder, he could tell she was shaking.

"We don't have to get ice cream, Anna, if you don't want to," John said with concern. Anna took in a shaky breath, shaking her head.

"I won't let him ruin our evening," Anna answered. She stopped their conversation to make her ice cream order.

After they both had made their orders, they went to take a seat at one of the tables. Anna kept kicking her foot anxiously against the table and barely eating her ice cream cone. Worried, John brought his hand over and rested it on her knee.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not much to talk about," Anna replied. "You already know the story."

"I'm sure seeing him has stirred up all kinds of emotions," John tried to sympathize.

"He's served his time," Anna muttered, placing her cone into a bowl upside down. "I don't agree with the small amount of time he's served, but I have no control over any of that. I guess seeing him reminded me how badly things would have gone had Mary not been there that day to save me."

"I wish I had been there," John stated with a low growl.

"Doesn't matter now. It's over. I'll be alright," Anna promised. "Seeing him just hit me oddly, but I'm already feeling better."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Anna said with a smile. "It helps that you are here with me."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

When they arrived back to Anna's flat, John gave her a kiss on her cheek and said he would just head back home. He said he was sure that after her surprise evening that she might want some time to think alone.

"No," Anna murmured, grabbing at his hand and pulling him forward. "Would, would you stay the night with me?"

"Really?"

"I'm….I'm a little too shaken up to do, well, anything, but I'd like you to spend the night."

The two had never had an official sleepover together. There was the time where they had accidently fallen asleep, but it had not been intentional. John's lips curled up.

"I'd love that," he said. He followed Anna into the small flat, closing the door behind him. It was already growing late into the evening and John was growing tired.

"I have a toothbrush you could use. Maybe in the future, we could each have some things at one another's places for sleepovers."

"That sounds amazing."

"I haven't been to your flat, yet," Anna mused. It was true. With Anna being sick for so many weeks, John had always come to her place.

"Well, we'll have to change that," John said, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head. "Want to lay down and watch a little TV before bed?"

"Sounds nice."

The two got ready for bed. Not having any night clothes, John just took off his clothes, leaving on his underwear and undershirt. Anna put on a night gown and climbed into her bed. Once John knew which side of the bed was Anna's, he climbed into the opposite side.

Anna snuggled up next to John, resting her head upon his chest. Instinctively, John's hand came around her and his other went to rest on the small swell of her belly.

"This is nice," Anna muttered against him.

"It is." And it really was. John was sure he had never felt so amazingly complete.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Anna woke up the next morning to find John quickly dressing into his clothes.

"You can shower here," Anna offered. "You could wear that to work. No one would know you slept over."

"I wish I could, my darling," he said to her. Anna felt her cheeks redden at the pet name he had given her. She rather liked it and could get used to it. "But I have to go home and feed my cat."

"You have a cat?"

"I do," John responded, pulling his pants up over his hips.

"What's his name?"

"Fred. He's a tabby. I got him after I divorced Vera. The two of us have been thick as thieves since then."

Anna chuckled slightly. "He's your best friend then? Think he's going to be angry with you for not coming home last night?"

"No," John said, bending over to capture Anna's lips in a kiss. "But if I don't get home and feed him, he may murder me in my sleep."

"Can't have that now, can we?" Anna teased.

"No, we cannot," John stated with a wink. "I'll see you at work?"

"Yes, now go and feed Fred. I need you not to be viciously murdered."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

A few more weeks passed and the two merged firms were coming together nicely. They had a few snags here and there, but overall it was going well.

Since Mary's confession to Anna, Anna tried to check in on her friend extra during the day. Mary had spoken to her doctor, who told her that some women experienced depression during pregnancy due to the hormones. With that knowledge and her doctor's help, Mary was feeling better. But Anna still worried about her dearest friend, so she made an extra effort to see how she was each day.

"Hello," Anna said, stepping into Mary's office.

"Ah, Anna, good," Mary stated, sitting up straight. "I was just about to send for you. I have John coming in as well."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, I just need to add John to one of your cases. He has more experience in this particular field. I thought since you two are so…chummy, that it might be alright for you to work together."

"Oh, yes, of course," Anna replied. This would be her and John's first time officially working together. It seemed sort of thrilling.

Just then, John walked into the office.

"Yes, boss," he said. Mary brightly smiled.

"I'll say, I still do love hearing that." Then she got down to business. "I need to add you to Anna's Brown case. It deals with prenups and trust funds. Two of your strongest suits."

"Right," John agreed. "I'll take a look over it."

He grabbed the folder from Mary and kissed Anna's cheek, before walking out of the room.

"I hope I don't regret having you two work together."

"Oh Mary, we'll handle it just fine."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

"So, what do you think?" Anna asked, sliding into John's office to see what his thoughts were on the case.

"I think we go for the juggler," John stated. "Hit him where it hurts, the children."

"What? No, we never go for the children," Anna disagreed.

"Anna, they are grown adults. We aren't talking about little kids. Their children are twenty and twenty-three."

"Doesn't matter. We don't go after people's children. That's just cruel."

"It's just threatening to cut off the funds so that he'll have to agree to the prenup," John stated. "He'll do it."

"What if he doesn't? You'd be alright with hurting these two children who have nothing to do with this divorce?"

"We wouldn't be hurting them. It's just a ploy to get things the way we want them."

"No, absolutely not! We don't use children like that! God, John!"

"It's not that big of a deal," John disagreed.

Mary's sigh had them both turn toward the door. She was standing, with her arms crossed over her growing belly, and not looking amused.

"Please tell me this merger wasn't a bad idea."

"It'll be fine, Mary. I….I just need to go for lunch," Anna stated. She turned on her heel and headed to the elevator.

Before the doors closed, John joined her. Anna turned away from him and huffed loudly.

"You're incorrigible, you know that?" Anna seethed. "I had forgotten how infuriating you could be when it came to case work!"

John's hand landed on her shoulder and she turned around to face him. As they both glared at one another, John's hands came around Anna and she inched up onto her toes to kiss him. His hand reached out to pull the emergency lever, forcing the elevator to stop.

"Building property, not the firms," John whispered into Anna's ear, as he began to tug to untuck her shirt.

Anna's lips pressed against his neck and his fingers searched for the spot to make her cry out.

"Yes, loophole," Anna breathed, before hiding a cry into his shirt.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

When the elevator doors opened a little while later, both John and Anna stepped out, walking in separate directions. Anna kept subconsciously touching her hair to make sure it wasn't a mess. She felt renewed. While they had very pleasing sex, there was something different about their angry sex.

"Anna?" Mary asked.

"Yes?" Anna said, smiling. Mary's lips fell into a straight line.

"I'm guessing things are better between you and Bates?"

"They are. Why do you ask?"

"Your cheeks are red."

"And?"

"I said no sex in the building!" Mary said harshly under her breath.

"Well, technically, we weren't on the law firm's property," Anna said.

"Good, god," Mary replied covering her face with her hands. Anna chuckled.

"It was all very low key," Anna promised.

"Just…please, for my sake, find somewhere…that's not here next time. Where…where was it?"

"I don't think you want to know."

"No," Mary agreed, making a face and shaking her head. "I don't. I really don't want to know anything else about your sex life ever again."

To be continued...

Will they be able to keep their hands to themselves at work? haha. Thanks for reading. More soon!